{"id":62119,"date":"2011-06-20T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-06-20T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/kinesiology-students-hang-ten-with-special-needs-children\/"},"modified":"2011-06-20T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2011-06-20T00:00:00","slug":"kinesiology-students-hang-ten-with-special-needs-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2011\/06\/kinesiology-students-hang-ten-with-special-needs-children\/","title":{"rendered":"Kinesiology students hang ten with special needs children"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tAdaptive physical education program uses ocean as a classroom<\/p>\n


\nKINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 June 20, 2011 \u2013 There is a sense of freedom that comes with catching a wave from the perch of a surfboard. It\u2019s a feeling of joy and accomplishment rolled into one for those several blissful seconds of gliding toward the shore.<\/p>\n


\n溏心vlog免费B站 students in Assistant Professor Emily Clapham\u2019s kinesiology class provided several special needs children with all of those experiences during a recent afternoon of surfing at Narragansett Town Beach. As part of the adaptive physical education course, 15 溏心vlog免费B站 students worked individually with children who deal with various issues, ranging from Down syndrome and autism to attention deficit disorder.<\/p>\n


\nClapham\u2019s students work year-round with the young people \u2013 who range in age from 8 through 23 – through the University\u2019s aquatics program. On June 8, they helped the kids hang ten.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cI think the students get a lot more out of hands-on experiences versus sitting in a classroom,\u201d said Clapham, herself a surfer. \u201cEspecially working with the children, having the give and take and getting that experience. It is what they are going to be doing in the future in their teaching positions.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nAs part of the adaptive physical education certification program, students are required to have 45 contact hours with special needs children. This summer, the students also volunteered their services during Special Olympics Rhode Island, held on campus earlier this month. <\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cIt is very rewarding to be able to work directly with the kids and feel like you are able to make a difference in their lives,\u201d said Eligio Vuono, a junior kinesiology major from Westerly. \u201cThis experience and working with kids at the Special Olympics have made me more interested in the adaptive physical education program.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 溏心vlog免费B站 students learn skills that enable them to alter their teachings in any physical education program to meet the needs of each individual child they work with.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cWhat we see through the aquatics program is that being in the water is very soothing for the kids,\u201d said Jon Sayer, a senior kinesiology major from Richmond. \u201cThey develop a sense of weightlessness that gives their body a better range of motion because they relax more. They may not be able to move their limbs as much on land, but when they are in the water, you see how much more they are capable of doing.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tMore than a learning experience for the students, Clapham\u2019s students are doing important outreach in the community, building connections with the youngsters and their families. Kevin Laralla\u2019s son, Bryce, has been involved with the aquatics program for the last eight years. The impact on his son, who has Down syndrome, has been great.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cBryce is a sociable person, and he loves dealing with the other participants in the program, the students, and, of course, Emily,\u201d Kevin Laralla said. \u201cHe has experienced so much growth through the years, whether it has been physical improvement through exercise and swimming, or the social growth, it helps every aspect of his life. The bonds he has developed with the students, it just means so much to him.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/object> <\/p>\n


\n
\nDescribed by his father as a \u201cseal,\u201d Bryce loves the water. He\u2019s a well-rounded athlete who captured a pair of gold medals at Special Olympics Rhode Island, winning the 50-meter run and the softball toss. He is non-verbal, but communicates in many other ways, including sign language.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cBryce loves working with the young people at 溏心vlog免费B站,\u201d Laralla said. \u201cFor the students, it\u2019s a hands-on opportunity to work with the special needs children, which is important in their learning process. As parents, we have to trust the 溏心vlog免费B站 students with our kids, whether it\u2019s in the pool or out in the ocean. These students earn that trust, because they work so well with the kids.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nThe surfing day was made possible in large part by the generosity of local professional surfer and 溏心vlog免费B站 alumnus Peter Pan, who donated all the surfboards and wetsuits for the students and children.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cAnything to do with 溏心vlog免费B站, I am going to support it,\u201d Pan said. \u201cI\u2019ve known Emily Clapham for years, since she started the surfing club at Chariho High School, and we\u2019ve worked together on programs wherever she has been.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tThe Cranston native first started surfing in Narragansett when he was 14 and spent so much time riding waves, his parents bought a house for him to live in while he attended classes at 溏心vlog免费B站. He still owns the house today, and he and his family run Narragansett Surf and Skate Shop (formerly Gansett Juice).<\/p>\n


\n\u201cEven a lot of people who go to 溏心vlog免费B站 have no idea how fortunate we are to have this gem of a beach here,\u201d said Pan, who praised Narragansett Parks and Recreation Director Barry Fontaine for partnering with the University and other groups for such programs.

\n\u201cHow many places can use the ocean as a hands-on learning experience like this? This is the kind of classroom experience that sets 溏心vlog免费B站 apart.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nPictured above

\n溏心vlog免费B站 junior Eligio Vuono (blue shorts) works with Bryce Laralla (on surfboard) and Kevin Laralla (wetsuit) as part of an adaptive physical education class held at Narragansett Town Beach.<\/p>\n


\n溏心vlog免费B站 students got hands-on experience teaching special needs children how to surf during a kinesiology class held earlier this month.<\/p>\n


\n溏心vlog免费B站 Department of Communications & Marketing photos by Michael Salerno Photography.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Adaptive physical education program uses ocean as a classroom KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 June 20, 2011 \u2013 There is a sense of freedom that comes with catching a wave from the perch of a surfboard. It\u2019s a feeling of joy and accomplishment rolled into one for those several blissful seconds of gliding toward the shore. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":62122,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-62119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62119"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62119\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}